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Monthly Archives: June 2012
Health care law survives in Supreme Court (9th update)
WASHINGTON - In a momentous ruling touching virtually every American, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld President Barack Obama's historic health care overhaul Thursday with the unlikely help of conservative Chief Justice John Roberts.
But the decision also gave Republicans unexpected ammunition to energize supporters in the battle for the White House and to fight "Obamacare" as a new tax on people who don't obtain health insurance.
Roberts' vote, along with those of the court's four liberal justices, preserved the largest expansion of the nation's social safety net in more than 45 years, including the hotly debated core requirement that nearly everyone have health insurance or pay a penalty. The aim is to extend coverage to more than 30 million people who now are uninsured
John Roberts, Supreme Court chief justice (AP file photo)
The 5-4 decision meant the huge overhaul, still taking effect, could proceed and pick up momentum over the next several years, with an impact on the way that countless Americans receive and pay for their personal medical care.
The ruling handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in approving the plan. However, Republicans quickly indicated they would try to use the decision against him.
At the White House, Obama declared, "Whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country." Blocks away, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney renewed his criticism of the overhaul, calling it "bad law" and promising to work to repeal it if elected in November.
Demonstrators for and against the law crowded the grounds outside the Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill as Roberts, sitting at the center of the nine black-robed justices inside, announced the decision to a packed courtroom.
Breaking with the other conservative justices, Roberts read the judgment that allows the law to go forward. He explained at length the court's view of the insurance mandate as a valid exercise of Congress' authority to "lay and collect taxes." The administration estimates that roughly 4 million people will pay the penalty rather than buy insurance.
Congress called the payment a penalty, not a tax, but Roberts said the court would not get hung up on labels. Among other indications it is a tax, Roberts said, "the payment is collected solely by the IRS through the normal means of taxation."
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Health care, bank stocks lead stock market lower
NEW YORK (AP) When the stock market began tumbling Thursday, many people assumed the selloff had something to do with the Supreme Court ruling to uphold President Barack Obama's health care law. But for a lot of investors, it was the same old concerns about Europe, along with a few new worries.
The market fell sharply in early trading, before the high court's announcement, as investors questioned whether a European Union meeting in Brussels would yield the same results as many meetings before it vague pledges, rather than concrete plans for what to do with struggling countries like Greece and Spain.
Bank stocks also declined, in part because of a report that a trading loss at JPMorgan Chase first estimated at $2 billion could be as much as $9 billion.
U.S. stocks still closed lower for the day, but they bounced back in the last half-hour of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down nearly 25 points, after falling as much as 177.
There were varying explanations for the late comeback, but most seemed to focus on Europe, including rumors that the European Central Bank would cut interest rates and that EU leaders might actually emerge from this week's meetings with a plan. Late Thursday, a top EU official said leaders had agreed to devote $149 billion to "immediate growth measures."
Nicholas Colas, ConvergEx Group chief market strategist, said blaming the health care ruling for the market's losses was "a convenient excuse."
"No doubt that the court's decision was disappointing," he said, "but I really think the indecisiveness of European policy makers at the nth summit on the same topic is the cause of the decline."
Other traders had similarly low expectations.
"The first one thousand summits, I was pretty excited," deadpanned Jeff Sica, president and chief investment officer of SICA Wealth Management in Morristown, N.J.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down about 100 points around 10 a.m., just before the Supreme Court ruled. Then it fell more steeply but recovered most of those losses, ending down 24.75 points at 12,602.26.
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Health-Care Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School
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Health-Care Decision Could Help Students Do Better In School
Health care reform: How it impacts your insurance coverage
The Supreme Court's ruling Thursday to uphold health care reform has widespread implications for both insured and uninsured consumers.
Beginning in 2014, uninsured individuals must buy coverage -- either on their own, through an employer's plan or through a health insurance exchange -- or else pay a tax penalty. Meanwhile, insured consumers will continue to enjoy key mandates of the law, such as free preventive care and coverage of adult dependents up to age 26, but at the expense of higher out-of -pocket costs.
In the United States, more than half of the population -- or 160 million people -- gets health insurance directly through their employers, while 50 million people have no insurance, according to the government. Tens of millions more consumers either buy their own private insurance or are covered by government programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Several key mandates of health reform have already gone into effect since the law passed in 2010. Here's a rundown of those provisions and new mandates rolling out over the next two years that will impact almost all of these consumers.
If you have insurance through your employer: Employees will continue to enjoy key benefits mandated by health reform that have already gone into effect.
"For consumers who are insured through their employers, this is good news," said Mike Thompson, principal with PwC's Global Human Resources Services.
Among the main provisions: Employers must provide coverage for adult dependents of workers up to age 26; health plans must cover certain preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance; and insurers can't impose a maximum lifetime dollar limit on a customer's medical care.
In 2013, eight additional preventive care services for women, including HIV and HPV (Human Papillomavirus) screening, will be covered under health reform.
Related: Justices say insurance mandate is a tax
But some industry experts also said that employers who offer insurance will now be even more focused on controlling their health care costs, especially since the individual mandate is expected to add more people -- including more high-risk individuals -- to their plans.
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Americans react to historic health care decision
CHICAGO (AP) The mother of two disabled teens called Thursdays Supreme Court ruling on the health care law wonderful because it bars insurance companies from setting lifetime limits for medical expenses a big help to her family.
But a retiree on Medicare called it a sad day and worries that the laws new rules coming in 2015 will interfere with treatments doctors can provide.
Across the country, some Americans havent been dramatically affected yet by the law, which will take a few years to reach full force. But many others say they have felt its effects already and have strong opinions about it.
Becky Morefield
Home: Mahomet, Ill. Age: 51 Occupation: Stay-at-home mom of two disabled teenagers Insurance coverage: Private insurance through husbands employer
As Morefield sees it, the health law allowed her son Tucker to die peacefully at home with private health insurance covering his care.
Tucker, one of three triplets with cerebral palsy, was always the most fragile of the siblings, Morefield said. Five years ago, he maxed out the $1 million lifetime limit in his familys policy when he went into respiratory failure and was hospitalized for 12 weeks.
Hitting the lifetime limit meant the insurance company would no longer pay Tuckers medical bills. The state of Illinois picked up the slack through a program for children with special health care needs. But the program put strict limits on certain medical supplies, leading the family to wash and reuse equipment meant for single use.
Tuckers coverage was reinstated in 2011 because the health care law barred lifetime dollar limits on coverage. He lived another 15 months covered by private insurance. At the end, he had doctor visits at home, oxygen and enough pain medication all care that Morefield said would have been restricted under the state program.
It was a blessing for us, Morefield said. People whove not had the ongoing medical things weve had dont understand.
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Health Care Decision Has Far-Reaching Impact For Fla.
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) The state of Florida was turned away by the United States Supreme Court almost completely Thursday morning in the states challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
Florida led the suit against the Health and Human Services Department and was particularly concerned with the expansion of Medicaid under the health care law. As written, the health care law would have expanded the Medicaid provision to 133 percent of the poverty line.
The ACA also said that if states turned down the new money to expand Medicaid; the states entire Medicaid funding would be pulled.
The threatened loss of over 10 percent of a States overall budget is economic dragooning that leaves the States with no real option but to acquiesce in the Medicaid expansion, the Court held.
In other words the Court found, The Medicaid expansion thus violates the Constitution by threatening States with the loss of their existing Medicaid funding if they decline to comply with the expansion.
The Court ruled that the withholding of a states entire Medicaid funding was unconstitutional. However, Justice Ginsburg said the remedy is to bar the withholding found impermissible, not to scrap the expansion altogether.
The Supreme Court found that states could refuse to expand the Medicaid expansion, but the money would still be available to any state willing to participate.
When a court confronts an unconstitutional statue, its endeavor must be to conserve, not destroy, the legislation, Justice Ginsburg said.
The problem for Florida residents, and other states led by Republicans, who would have been covered under the provision is; what do they do now?
States with Republicans in charge could decide not to take part in the expansion, since no penalty is in place for it. If thats the case, then those who would have been covered under the new Medicaid expansion, will be on their own to find health insurance to avoid the tax.
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Health care law survives _ with Roberts' help
WASHINGTON
Obamacare lives.
America's historic health care overhaul, derided by Republicans as intrusive, costly "Obamacare," narrowly survived an election-year battle at the Supreme Court Thursday with the improbable help of conservative Chief Justice John Roberts.
The 5-4 ruling now makes it certain that major health care changes will move ahead, touching virtually every American's life. And Democrats, who have learned to accept if not love the GOP label for the law, heartily praised the decision.
But the ruling also gave Republicans unexpected ammunition to energize supporters for the fall campaign against President Barack Obama, the bill's champion - and for next year's vigorous efforts to repeal the law as a new federal tax
Roberts' vote, along with those of the court's four liberal justices, preserved the largest expansion of the nation's social safety net in more than 45 years, including the hotly debated core requirement that nearly everyone have health insurance or pay a penalty. The aim is to extend coverage to more than 30 million people who now are uninsured
The decision meant the huge overhaul, still taking effect, could proceed and pick up momentum over the next several years, with an impact on the way that countless Americans receive and pay for their personal medical care.
The ruling handed Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in approving the plan. However, Republicans quickly indicated they would try to use the decision against him.
At the White House, Obama declared, "Whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country." Blocks away, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney renewed his criticism of the overhaul, calling it "bad law" and promising to work to repeal it if elected in November.
Demonstrators for and against the law crowded the grounds outside the Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill as Roberts, sitting at the center of the nine black-robed justices inside, announced the decision to a packed courtroom.
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I may finally be able to quit smoking. Vaccine stops nicotine from reaching the brain, may prevent addiction.
This is great news for me! Ive been wanting to quit smoking for years and this vaccine may be the answer for me to finally put down this addiction that Ive had in years.
CBS News reports:
Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman and professor of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Crystals team has announced theyve successfully tested a new vaccine that may treat nicotine addiction.
Much like vaccines for diseases that create antibodies to fight infection, the vaccine creates antibodies against nicotine. However, previous attempts at similar vaccines have failed because within a few weeks the antibodies are gone, which wont exactly help people stay smoke-free.
Crystals team developed a vaccine that contains a virus consisting of a genetic sequence they engineered from a nicotine antibody, and injected it into the liver of mice. The injection genetically modifies the liver to churn out nicotine antibodies, along with other cells it typically makes, thus providing a nicotine antibody factory in the body. That suggests the effect wont diminish over time like that of other antibodies. The antibodies then work by targeting the nicotine cells within seconds of exposure and preventing them from reaching receptors in the brain that provide the chill out feeling, as Crystal called it.
The antibodies are little Pac-men that like nicotine and just gobble it up, Crystal said.
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Millennium Laboratories Launches Innovative Pharmacogenetic Test, Paving the Way for Personalized Medicine in the …
SAN DIEGO, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Millennium Laboratories, the leading research-based clinical diagnostic company dedicated to improving the lives of people suffering from pain, announced today the introduction of Millennium Pharmacogenetic Testing (PGT). Millennium PGT is saliva-based testing to detect genetic variations in enzymes associated with the metabolism of medications commonly prescribed to patients suffering from debilitating chronic pain and pain-related effects. This testing will help clinicians identify patients who may benefit from modifying the drug selection or dosing of certain prescribed opioids including methadone, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120516/LA07836LOGO)
"This novel testing provides insight into whether or not a patient will experience the anticipated effect of a prescribed medication or be at increased risk for additional side effects," said Howard Appel, President of Millennium Laboratories.
Medication metabolism differs greatly among individuals and may partly be the result of genetic variations in metabolizing enzymes. These genetic variations can result in clinically significant differences in response to prescribed medications. By identifying genetic variations in drug-metabolizing enzymes, clinicians can more effectively personalize each patient's treatment. Incorporating pharmacogenetic testing into clinical practice has significant potential to improve the efficacy of drug treatment and reduce adverse effects by providing information that allows clinicians to better predict and understand patient responses to medications(1-3).
"Millennium's proprietary pharmacogenetic testing is an objective tool to individualize therapy and potentially improve patient outcomes," said Appel. "Identifying genetic characteristicsthat affect how commonly prescribed medications are metabolized is an example of how personalized medicine may improve the lives of those suffering from pain. Millennium is proud to introduce this best-in-classpharmacogenetic testing to the market."
"Pharmacogenetics is an emerging technology across many areas of clinical medicine that has already started to affect certain clinical decisions and likely will play an increasingly important role in pain medicine, especially in the area of safe prescribing," said Michael Brennan, M.D., a nationally recognized pain specialist practicing in Fairfield, Connecticut. "In select chronic pain patients, the combineduse ofurine drug testing and pharmacogenetic testing can help answer important clinical questions."
Appel called today's announcement "a major milestone" for people suffering from pain. "Since our founding in 2007, Millennium has quickly become the leader in the field of medication monitoring and drug detection," he said. "As that leader, it is incumbent upon us to continue to advance the science of pain management by introducing the newest technologies and advanced clinical tools. Today's announcement represents the culmination of a more than two-year effort."
All testing and analysis are performed at Millennium's state-of-the-art pharmacogenetics laboratory in San Diego. Millennium PGT is currently available upon request to healthcare professionals in select regions across the United States. The company anticipates nationwide availability later this year.
About Millennium Laboratories
Millennium Laboratories (http://millenniumlabs.com/) is the leading research-based, clinical diagnostic company dedicated to improving the lives of people with chronic pain. The company provides healthcare professionals with medication monitoring, drug detection and pharmacogenetic testing services to personalize treatment plans to improve clinical outcomes and patient safety.
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Games improve employee health and well-being, may reduce health insurance premiums for employers
Public release date: 28-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 x2156 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News
New Rochelle, NY, June 28, 2012Games that promote health can improve the well-being of employees, saving employers direct and indirect health care costs. Employers can more readily reap these benefits by offering game-based services that educate their employees about health and wellness and improve physical and psychological fitness, according to an Editorial in Games for Health Journal a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The Editorial is available free on the Games for Health Journal website.
"Wellness programs using health games have the potential to significantly impact human well-being and the costs, pain, and suffering of preventable illnesses and conditions," says Games for Health Journal Editor-in-Chief Bill Ferguson, PhD, in the Editorial entitled "Games for WellnessImpacting the Lives of Employees and the Profits of Employers."
Dr. Ferguson highlights the key factors that will drive increased market acceptance of health games and wellness initiatives among employers. The Editorial describes the characteristics of health games for improving wellness and how videogaming can help engage people in their own health, supplement traditional forms of exercise, promote healthy living, and improve patient care.
"The most successful wellness programs incorporate videogames that present themselves as in the service of the player," states Dr. Ferguson. "These activities enable individuals to engage in things they have personally desired, but were unable to prioritize and accomplish before wellness games. The result is healthier, happier, and more productive employees - a win-win for employers and their people"
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About the Journal
Games for Health Journal breaks new ground as the first journal to address this emerging and increasingly important area of health care. The Journal provides a bimonthly forum in print and online for academic and clinical researchers, game designers and developers, health care providers, insurers, and information technology leaders. Articles explore the use of game technology in a variety of clinical applications. These include disease prevention and monitoring, nutrition, weight management, and medication adherence. Gaming can play an important role in the care of patients with diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and cognitive, mental, emotional, and behavioral health disorders.
About the Publisher
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Games improve employee health and well-being, may reduce health insurance premiums for employers
Cincinnati Museum Center Trustees Approve Resolution to Join National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Into …
CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) Board of Trustees approved a resolution today authorizing CMC to become the sole member of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC), joining NURFC into the CMC family of organizations. This follows a period of due diligence that was initiated in February when the NURFC Board of Trustees expressed the intent and authorized amendments to NURFC bylaws permitting the organizations to join.
Cincinnati Museum Center is regarded as a national model of excellence as a result of the successful integration of multiple museums. Union Terminal re-opened its doors in 1990 as home to the legacy institutions: Museum of Natural History & Science (established in 1818) and the Cincinnati Historical Society (1831), and the Robert D. Lindner OMNIMAX Theatre. These three corporate structures became one organization in 1995 gaining operating efficiencies. The Cincinnati Childrens Museum joined this corporate structure in 1997 and was later renamed as the Duke Energy Childrens Museum. Additionally, Enjoy the Arts (1981) and the Helen Steiner Rice Foundation joined CMCs corporate structure in 2009.
This is a powerful alignment of iconic and inspirational museums, said Francie S. Hiltz, chair of Cincinnati Museum Center Board of Trustees. The result is a creative and dynamic partnership, offering financial strength and new opportunities for each museum and our community.
The two world-renowned institutions will maintain their own brands and distinct missions, but are now positioned to contribute more to the community and the nation. For the purpose of charitable gifts and other revenue, each organization will be a separate 501(c)(3) legal charity. Within a period of approximately sixty days, technology, human resources, operating systems and processes will be integrated.
I am sincere in my gratitude for the generous spirit of collaboration and future vision shown by the trustees and management of Cincinnati Museum Center, said Rev. Damon Lynch, Jr. presiding co-chair of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Our duty as community leaders and as institutions of learning and dialogue is to share the lessons of our history that inspire courageous steps for freedom today. Through this more efficient corporate structure we know we can offer more to our community.
The Board of Trustees of Cincinnati Museum Center will have financial oversight to the combined corporate structure. The Board of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is responsible for fundraising, oversight of programming and for enhancing the image of the Freedom Center, locally, nationally and globally.
Further, the Cincinnati Museum Center Trustees elected today the following NURFC officers: Rev. Damon Lynch, Jr. and John Pepper as Board Co-Chairs; Douglass W. McDonald, CEO ; A. Larry Sisk as CFO; and Kim Robinson, as Executive Director.
During the period of due diligence, CMC had elected NURFC trustees, Rev. Damon Lynch, Jr., John Pepper, Phil Castellini, and Edwin Rigaud to the CMC Board of Trustees. At todays meeting, CMCs board also elected Marty Dunn and Mitchel Livingston as trustees.
Local and national funding partners recognize the administrative efficiencies created through this structure. Improved effectiveness and maximized resources are critically important to the missions of the museums and provide renewed sustainability to National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Donors have given financial and in-kind support driven by a deep appreciation for this creative community solution and in celebration of the mission of the Freedom Center. Since the announcement NURFC received a $5 million one-to-one challenge grant to grow the endowment. To date, the endowments value is $3 million.
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Freedom in Lefrak City
When walking around Lefrak City with Freedom, its hard not to notice the love the neighborhood gives him. Passersby frequently shake his hand, shoot the breeze and shout out Freedom! from across the street. To the Bedford-Stuyvesant transplant though, its nothing but expanding brain power.
Knowledge is infinity, its always to meet more and more people in Lefrak, Freedom says as we walk down 57th Avenue.
Having lived in Lefrak City for a quarters century, the proud activist is not only a community staple, but just one of many giving back to that community. Freedom hires talented artists from all over New York to help him paint murals on the walls of businesses in the area, specifically walls featuring wanton, cluttered graffiti. He was instrumental in the creation of the murals at the Food Bazaar and has his eye on a wall with clustered tags on 96th Street and renaming it the Music Wall as a tribute to musical legends such as Billie Holiday and Nat Turner.
[Its] to bring up the community, give them something to look at. Theyre taking the walls and then marking up graffiti and all that. Im against that. Im here to destroy that. And once they see my art, theyll say, Oomph! Freedom was here, he said, motioning to the mural behind him, which originally filled the entire wall.
He was instrumental in the murals completion in 1994. When a Popeyes replaced the previous store, the mural was painted but later taken down. The fast-food chain, recognizing its importance to the community, later restored the mural in a compacted, hanging form. In the far right section, near paintings of President Barack Obama and Kenny Anderson, is Freedoms own face. According to him, this particular block is named in his honor as well.
If you look around Lefrak City, its a very beautiful community. We just have to get out and stop the violence, the former paperboy for the Amsterdam News said. Violence will always be here, but maybe a little art might change their thinking capacity. I was a child out of the street and I had the old timers to wake me up.
The Nation of Islam member doesnt want people to think he despises graffiti art, though. Walking us across the street to another wall filled with RIP messages and a small shrine to a local young man recently shot to death, he makes an exception here. This wall is also getting a Freedom-style remake and will feature pictures of young people killed much too soon with the tags intact.
This right here, this is a young boy who just passed away, Freedom noted. I respect the dead, and all the young kids wrote all over the wall. Out of respect, I dont wanna take the art out of this, because theres art in it. Art is art. You dont destroy art.
Another block over, we find ourselves outside the Food Bazaar. The sidewall features a mural of King Tutankhamen and a stone mask face, with messy graffiti tags spliced in between. Its set to become the Falling Soldiers wall sometime this year. When its done, other departed kings and queens will join King Tut.
Another small section of wall with clustered, sprayed-on scribbles behind us isnt safe from Freedoms creative wrath either. Im going to put something over there. Were gonna put art on any wall we go to.
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No Costly On-site Fabrication, Large Cranes or Special Tools Needed for Schletter's New, All-Steel PV Mounting System
TUCSON, Ariz., June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Schletter Inc., a leader in solar mounting systems, announces the release of the FS ECO, an all-steel ground mount system for photovoltaic (PV) applications designed for traditional south-facing installations as well as unique east-west oriented applications. The new system will be on display at the Intersolar tradeshow in San Francisco July 10 12, 2012, booth number 9223.
From a company which is known for providing some of the highest quality aluminum PV mounting systems, Schletter has applied decades of solar mounting experience to an entirely new product line, using all steel components. Based on the engineering advancements of the Schletter FS System installed in many of the world's largest PV installations, the new FS ECO steel mounting system provides a lower price point for clients looking for quality and affordability.
"When it comes to providing a product with the longest installed lifespan possible, aluminum is an ideal choice," says Mr. Martin Hausner, President of Schletter Inc. Mr. Hausner goes on to say that, "however, Schletter understands the customer and market demand for a quality, cost effective alternative to aluminum." The FS ECO is extremely cost competitive and is engineered in a way that minimizes installation costs, the constant focus of Schletter's product development efforts.
The new FS ECO system allows the same flexible module configurations as the FS System. The company states the system includes the necessary posts (foundations) for a rammed/driven installation. The proprietary steel post shape is first cold-rolled and then hot dipped galvanized for extended product longevity.
About Schletter Inc.
Schletter (www.schletter.us) has designed, developed, and manufactured solar mounting products in the U.S. since 2008, while backed with more than 19-years of solar mounting experience from Schletter GmbH. Since opening its United States facility in Tucson, Arizona, Schletter Inc. has manufactured more than 800 MW of installed PV mounting systems. Schletter Inc. offers products for roof mount and ground mount systems for residential, commercial, and utility scale photovoltaic systems. Schletter Inc. is an independent subsidiary of Schletter GmbH, which operates subsidiaries in eleven countries with more than 1,800 employees worldwide. For more information on Schletter GmbH, please visit http://www.schletter.de.
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American beaches laden with sewage, bacteria: study
28-Jun-12, 6:07 AM | Agence France-Presse
InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5
WASHINGTON - US beaches can be dirty places, making about 3.5 million people sick each year from sewage in the water, said an annual study Wednesday that rates American beaches by how dirty they are.
The Natural Resources Defense Council report included 3,000 beaches nationwide and listed 15 "repeat offenders" that have turned up again and again in the pollution rankings.
Those included four beaches in Louisiana, Avalon and Doheny State Beaches in southern California, and select waterfront beaches in Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin.
Overall, the total number of beach closures and water quality advisories nationwide last year was the third highest in 22 years of monitoring, said the study.
"America's beaches are plagued by a sobering legacy of water pollution, including bacteria-laden human and animal waste," said NRDC Water Program Director Steve Fleischli.
"So when people dive into the ocean, it can make them sick with a range of waterborne illnesses including stomach flu, skin rashes, pink eye, ear nose and throat problems, dysentery, hepatitis, respiratory ailments, neurological disorders and other serious health problems."
Louisiana tallied the highest number of dirty samples (29 percent) that exceeded national standards for designated beach areas in 2011.
The southern state famed for its seafood and music and whose shoreline was among those sullied by the BP oil spill in 2010 ranked last out of 30 states measured for beachwater quality.
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Texas beaches aided by drought
The wicked drought that plagued Texas last year had an upside: cleaner beaches.
With the state in the grips of its driest year on record, less polluted runoff from Houston and other cities poured into coastal waters.
As a result, the number of times Texas beaches were closed or had posted advisories because of high bacteria levels in 2011 dropped by nearly half from the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, which has prepared the report for 22 years, said Texas' cleaner waters were partly because of the record dry spell. Overall, the state ranked eighth for water quality among the 30 in the survey.
"It is the silver lining of the drought," said Ellis Pickett, a longtime surfer and advocate for the Texas coast.
A high bacteria count in the water at beaches increases the risk of ear infections, skin rashes and stomach illnesses for swimmers.
Texas had one its worst years for water quality in 2010, with 704 instances in which officials closed beaches and posted advisories, largely because of flooding along the Rio Grande.
The number of closings and advisories dropped to 384 last year as Texas dried out. The statewide average rainfall totaled just 14.88 inches for 2011, well below the average of 27.92 inches per year over the last century, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
"Heavy rainfall will exacerbate the problem," said Steve Fleischli, the NRDC's water program director.
The difference from year to year was most apparent at South Padre Island, where flooding in 2009 increased bacteria levels for several days at a time. In the latest report, the popular South Texas beach was one of only 12 nationwide to receive the NRDC's highest rating of five stars.
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Privately and publicly looking for Earth-threatening asteroids | Bad Astronomy
[Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with many of the folks on both teams described below. I have tried to be scrupulously fair to both missions, and to be honest - as I say below - the best thing to happen would be for both missions to be locked, loaded, and looking for potentially hazardous rocks.]
The B612 Foundation is a group of scientists, astronauts, astronomers, and engineers who have come together to do nothing less than literally save the world: they want to find and deflect asteroids that can potentially hit the Earth. While really big asteroids are rare after all, the one 10 km (6 miles) across that wiped out the dinosaurs only hits Earth every few hundred million years smaller ones in the 100 meter range are far more common and can still do devastating damage. Even one just 50 meters across (smaller than a football field) can impact and explode with the yield of millions of tons of TNT. Thats in the range of the biggest nuclear weapons ever detonated.
Finding these asteroids is notoriously difficult. Theyre small and dim, and sometimes only discovered once theyve already passed us! The best way to find them in large numbers is to launch a space telescope to survey the sky, tuned to the infrared where these asteroids are far brighter and easier to spot.
Today, B612 made a big announcement: they want to build just such a mission. They call it Sentinel, and it will be the first privately funded deep space mission ever launched. Built by Ball Aerospace and launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, it will be placed into a Venus-like orbit, giving it a good view of the volume of space where these asteroids prowl:
[Click to chixchulubenate.]
The plan is to raise the money philanthropically, like museums do: donations from private funders. Observatories have long been funded this way, and the proposed cost of a few hundred million dollars is roughly on par with many civic projects. Their target launch date is 2017 to 2018, and the mission will last about 5 years.
Interestingly, a group of scientists and engineers with NASA/JPL is planning a similar mission! Called NEOCam (for Near Earth Object Camera), its based on previous missions like WISE and Hubble.
Sentinel and NEOCam have many similarities: they both use a 50 cm or so telescope, both are tuned to infrared, and both will launch into orbit to get a better view of potentially threatening asteroids. Unlike Sentinel, NEOCam will stick closer to the Earth, placed into an orbit that keeps it about a million miles away. The advantage of this is that being closer, the rate at which data can be sent to Earth is very high. That allows more and higher-resolution observations to be made. While Sentinel is designed to look at one broad region of the infrared spectrum, NEOCam will look in multiple wavelengths, giving it the ability to characterize the size and chemical composition of asteroids more accurately.
This part is important: the two missions do two different things! Sentinel is designed to find and get accurate positions and orbits for these asteroids. NEOCam will also find lots of asteroids, but is optimized for science, to understand the asteroids physical characteristics. Both of these factors are critical and complementary. We need both.
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Privately and publicly looking for Earth-threatening asteroids | Bad Astronomy
Singing the praises of Carl Sagan | Bad Astronomy
One of my favorite quotations of all time is by Carl Sagan: "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the Universe." The poetry and lyrical nature of that line are wonderful, and the sentiment well. He was exactly right. Sagan was one of many people who influenced me, and of course so many of us who promote astronomy to the public owe our careers to him.
Thats why I was so pleased when I found that Kenley Kristofferson, a music teacher and composer in Canada, wrote a lovely choral suite in three movements based on Carl Sagans words! He has put all three on Sound Cloud, so you can listen to them for free. Each uses quotations from Sagan and weaves them into a tale of discovery, beauty, and astronomy. Theyre performed beautifully by the Antiphony Music Ensemble, a group of ten young singers from Winnipeg. On his website Kristofferson has the three movements downloadable as MP3s, and also has the lyrics written out as well.
This is a very pretty piece, and I hope some choral teachers out there pick it up and perform it. I think it sends a great message, and it does so in a beautiful way.
Addendum: Producer/writer/actor Seth MacFarlane yes, from "Family Guy" helped the Library of Congress acquire Sagans personal papers. MacFarlane is a science nut, and as you may already know, is working with Neil Tyson to update and bring Sagans "Cosmos" back to the TV. I think this is great, and its fantastic to know that there are folks out there like MacFarlane willing to put their money where their brain is. Good on him.
Tip o the elbow patch to the wonderfully named blog Its OK to be Smart.
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Rocket Fuel Secures $50 Million in Funding to Fuel Rapid Global Growth
REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire -06/28/12)- Rocket Fuel, the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced it has secured $50 million in new financing. The round was led by long-term Rocket Fuel investor Northgate Capital, and included two new investors: Summit Partners, and Cross Creek Capital, the private equity affiliate of Wasatch Advisors. Existing investors Nokia Growth Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures participated, as did Comerica Bank. Total Rocket Fuel funding now exceeds $76 million.
Rocket Fuel is on a rapid growth trajectory. Between 2009 and 2011, its compound annual growth rate exceeded 325%; in 2011 alone, the company grew revenue to $45 million and reached EBITDA profitability in Q42011. Rocket Fuel will use the infusion of new capital to accelerate its aggressive growth strategy. Rocket Fuel plans to expand into more international markets and invest in hiring, technology, and business development.
Recent company growth highlights include:
Quotes:
Adds John, "This financing will add an important layer of financial strength and provide the foundation for our long-term growth plans. We are also extremely pleased to have Karey Barker from Wasatch's Cross Creek and Greg Goldfarb from Summit Partners join as board observers. Karey and Greg are well-known and well-respected in the investing community, and we're excited to add their IQ and experience to our boardroom."
Over 700 of the world's most successful marketers -- including 66 of Advertising Age's Top 100 Leading National Advertisers and 39 of the Fortune 100 -- have trusted their digital display, video, mobile and social advertising with Rocket Fuel.
This story was first reported in AllThingsD.
About Northgate CapitalNorthgate Capital, LLC is a premier provider of alternative asset investments through fund-of-funds vehicles and direct investment vehicles. With more than $3 billion in committed capital, Northgate's foremost objective is to be an integral partner to institutions and families by helping them earn consistently top-quartile returns from their alternative asset investments. Northgate's portfolio funds are often oversubscribed, making participation extremely limited. For more information, visit http://www.northgate.com.
About Summit PartnersSummit Partners (www.summitpartners.com) is a growth equity firm that invests in rapidly growing companies. Founded in 1984, Summit has raised more than $14 billion in capital and provides equity and credit for growth, recapitalizations, and management buyouts. Summit has invested in more than 340 companies across a range of industries. These companies have completed more than 125 public offerings, and in excess of 130 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Summit Partners has offices in Boston, Palo Alto, London, and Mumbai. Notable software companies financed by Summit Partners include Hyperion Solutions, McAfee Associates, RightNow Technologies, SeaChange International, Unica, WebEx Communications and Wildfire Interactive.
About Wasatch Advisors, Inc. and Cross Creek CapitalWasatch Advisors, Inc. is a global investment manager to institutions and mutual funds with over $11.7 Billion in assets under management and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Wasatch Advisors' private equity affiliate, Cross Creek Capital, is a venture capital fund focused on late-stage private equity investments in what it believes are the best-of-breed public companies of the future. More information is located at http://www.crosscreekcapital.com.
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Rocket Fuel Secures $50 Million in Funding to Fuel Rapid Global Growth
MedInformatix Collaborates With Eye Center SEECA to Develop Artificial Intelligence to Quantify Patient Fitness for …
LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MedInformatix, a leading provider of software solutions for the healthcare industry, announced today its EMR solution is the core component of a custom solution produced by specialty eye care center SEECA. MedInformatix built an EMR solution for the practice that is able to effectively determine through computational analysis if a patient is a viable candidate for refractive surgery procedures. The practice is producing a clinical study regarding the accuracy of its artificial intelligence solutions in predicting patient suitability.
The solution takes advantage of the benefits of computational power that cannot be matched by an individual physician. Traditional determination of fitness for refractive surgery requires physicians to review many data points, which have multiple interdependencies. The MedInformatix-built SEECA system is able to take 20-30 clinical data points and risk factors, such as age, corneal thickness, and various keratometer readings, and provide clear color-coded outputs that state a patient's fitness for various procedures. A physician is still required to review the results; however, he or she experiences significant time savings by no longer performing the computational work.
"Judging a patient for refractive surgery requires the physician to blend data with their personal opinions," said Dr. A. J. dela Houssaye (Dr. D), Medical Director at SEECA. "If you ask four physicians their opinion on one optical patient, you might get four differing answers due to individual weighting of varying risk factors. While these doctors are exceedingly accurate, it illustrates the difficulty of expecting the human brain to calculate up to 30 interrelated pieces of data into a conclusion. With MedInformatix's help, our artificial intelligence system uses modern computational power to put a quantifiable grade to each patient."
"We are very excited to see SEECA's new artificial intelligence project in action," said Michele Jones, MedInformatix Chief Marketing officer. "This new solution is truly groundbreaking work that will provide immediate benefits to both physicians and patients. Medical staff at SEECA can now spend more time with patients instead of pouring through data which is now computed using our technology. The benefit for the end patient is they can be doubly sure they are the right candidate for the proper procedure."
"MedInformatix is an ideal partner because they give physician's offices flexible solutions that can be altered to fit specific practice needs," said Dr. D. "They gave us all of the necessary support, but also the autonomy to allow our in-house Information Technologist to build some necessary customizations to the system. They were also very willing to review our modifications and offer recommendations or improvements as necessary. It really is a partnership, with both sides working together collaboratively to result in more efficient and accurate medicine."
Located in Houma, Louisiana, SEECA is a specialty eye care center that offers a variety of corrective and cosmetic procedures. The artificial intelligence system was developed by Dr. D. and Holly Acosta, the practice's Information Technologist who created the required technical customizations. For more information about the practice, visit http://www.SEECA.com.
About MedInformatix:
MedInformatix, Inc. (www.medinformatix.com) is a leading national provider of fully integrated Electronic Health Records. The products have been built around MedInformatix's 25 years of workflow expertise. MedInformatix's suite of products is designed on a single database using Microsoft SQL. Whether the client is a single physician who went live in 1994, a 13-location cardiology practice, the busiest radiology practice in Manhattan, or one of 15 other serviced specialties, MedInformatix accommodates their needs. MedInformatix can turn the dream of a paperless, integrated practice into a reality.
MedInformatix Version 7.5 is now certified to meet 2011-2012 criteria supporting Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment act (ARRA) as a Complete EHR by the Drummond Group.
This Complete EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments." MedInformatix, October 22, 2010, Version 7.5, 1022201024238, Clinical Quality Measures: NQF0013, NQF0421, NQF0041, NQF0024, NQF0028, NQF0038, NQF0059, NQF0061, NQF0064. Additional software used: TrueCrypt v2.0, email software, spreadsheet software.
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